New Nukes
Britain’s main safety regulator threw the government’s plans into chaos tonight by damning the nuclear industry’s leading designs for new plants. The Health and Safety Executive said it could not recommend plans for new reactors because of wide-ranging concerns about their safety. “We have identified a significant number of issues with the safety features of the design that would first have to be progressed. If these are not progressed satisfactorily then we would not issue a design acceptance confirmation,” the agency concluded following a study of the latest French EPR and US AP1000 reactor designs. Kevin Allars, director of new build at the HSE, admitted frustration that the design assessment process was already behind schedule owing to insufficient information from the companies promoting the reactors and a lack of enough trained staff in his own directorate.
Guardian 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Detailed reviews by the Health and Safety Executive highlight a series of shortcomings in security and safety systems in both reactors that must be fixed or redesigned before the power plants can be approved for construction.
Guardian 27th Nov 2009 more >>
The nuclear safety regulator has warned that two new reactor designs could be rejected due to wide-ranging concerns over their safety. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) said that it was concerned about several features of the French and US-Japanese reactor technologies, proposed for use in a new generation of British nuclear power stations.
New Statesman 27th Nov 2009 more >>
The HSE said it had identified a “significant number of issues with the safety features of the design” of the French and American reactors and the process cannot move forward until they are fixed.
Telegraph 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Telegraph 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Times 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Belfast Telegraph 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Interim assessment reports for two nuclear power station designs being considered for construction in the UK have been made public today. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published the reports on Step 3 of its Generic Design Assessment of the designs put forward by EDF/AREVA and Westinghouse. The GDA process enables the HSE and the Environment Agency (EA) to assess new nuclear power station designs before an application for a site licence has been received.
HSE Press Release 27th Nov 2009 more >>
A French consortium hoping to build the first new nuclear power stations in Britain for 20 years has submitted a solution that will “in principle” meet safety concerns about its reactor design, the UK regulator has said. A rival Japanese-owned group has also put forward a plan to strengthen its reactor to meet requirements for withstanding extreme events such as aircraft impact.
FT 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Henri Proglio, the new chief executive of EDF, told the Wall Street Journal the French power company generates enough cash to finance its international expansion in nuclear energy. But the CEO did not exclude a capital increase altogether, the newspaper reported on Thursday.
Forbes 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Wall Street Journal 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Areva
The French prime minister on Thursday quashed speculation that the government would break up Areva, the world’s biggest builder of nuclear reactors, saying the company would continue to operate throughout the nuclear supply chain.
New York Times 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Bradwell
EDF Energy plans to sell land at its Bradwell nuclear site in southeast England to companies planning to build new reactors in Britain, the world’s biggest nuclear power generator said on Friday. French nuclear power giant EDF got some of the land at Bradwell as part of its takeover of nuclear operator British Energy in January and bought more land there at auction in April.
Reuters 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Energy Business Review 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Dungeness
Temperatures ran high at a full council meeting on Wednesday 24 when a proposed motion about the decision to not consider Dungeness as a possible site for a new nuclear power station was discussed. The motion, raised by the Conservative group, proposed that the council ‘greets with incredulity the decision by the Labour Government to exclude Dungeness from the short list of ten sites considered suitable for the construction of new nuclear power stations.’ The Liberal Democrat group consistently against the motion. Cllr Peter Carroll (Lib Dem) said the motion concentrated on the economic impact and did not ‘give the issue the respect it deserves,’ and allowing the development risked an accident and ‘destroying the Marsh forever.’ The motion passed with Conservatives voting in favour. The majority of Liberal Democrats voted against, with Cllr Matthews and Cllr Marsh abstaining.
All Day Breakfast 26th Nov 2009 more >>
It seems the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) representatives (who advised the Government on the Dungeness decision) did so on the basis that any new nuclear power station on the proposed site would need to be built further back from the coastline to enable adequate sea defences to be put in place which in turn would destroy the shingle ridges which are the subject of strict environmental protection. Natural England made such a strong case for the protection of the fragile eco-system at Dungeness that DECC had no option but to recommend the Government to remove Dungeness from the list of proposed sites, reinforced by a very strong case put by the RSPB for the protection of the wildlife & habitats there.
Romney Marsh Times 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Oldbury
OPPOSITION is growing to plans for a new nuclear power station in Oldbury on Severn. Another round of public exhibitions on plans for the new site, which could have up to four huge cooling towers measuring between 70 and 200 metres high, was launched on Saturday and residents and local councillors turned out to see what the nuclear station might look like. Shepperdine resident Reg Illingworth said: “There are now fairly significant objections from quite a number of people. “People are really concerned about the whole scale of the thing and especially the height of the towers. There is a lot of opposition.”
Gloucestershire Gazette 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Wylfa
Every Anglesey resident I meet is totally opposed to Wylfa B. There are so many reasons why so many of us object to the proposed Wylfa B, for example, danger of another Chernobyl type “accident”. Then there is the nuclear waste which creates toxic pollution for millions of years, and obtaining and transporting nuclear materials is unreliable and increases the terrorist threat. So investing in nuclear power would be wasting money that could be spent on safer green power. Those selfish, ignorant people who still support nuclear always try to play down the enormous risks involved and the hidden costs. We are not that gullible. We will happily accept any number of wind turbines, and other safe renewable energy technologies – but Nuclear Power – Definitely not!
Anglesey Today 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Waste Transport
More than ten years later than originally scheduled, the first shipment of vitrified High Level Waste (HLW) is expected to be shipped from Sellafield to Japan early in 2010. Sellafield Ltd said yesterday that the first HLW return shipment to Japan was expected to be completed by next in March. Depending on which of three recognised sea routes was selected, the return could take up to 6 weeks – indicating a departure from the UK sometime in January 2010. It is likely that the HLW, loaded into transport containers, will be sent from Sellafield to Barrow docks by rail and loaded onto the Pacific Sandpiper for the 25,000km voyage to Japan. Contrary to local media reports (Whitehaven News 26th November) that the shipment would be made on a vessel fitted with naval canon, the industry has confirmed today that there is no plan to use an armed ship.
CORE Briefing 26th Nov 2009 more >>
Finland
A poster of nuclear safety threats in Olkiluoto-3.
Greenpeace 26th Nov 2009 more >>
France
The head of France’s Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) could not understand why his joint letter with two other European regulators demanding design changes to a new-generation EPR reactor being built in France, Finland and soon in the UK, should have prompted a storm in a country traditionally supportive of nuclear power. The regulators were pleased they had acted together. “But it was seen as frightening because we were co-ordinated,” Mr Lacoste says in an interview with the Financial Times. “[The letter] did not call into question the safety of the EPR reactor. It is normal that authorities examine reactors and say if they are satisfied or not.” But the letter came in the wake of a series of recent incidents in France, not least the discovery of 39kg of plutonium dust that had built up over 40 years in fuel-making facilities run by the Atomic Energy Commission, the state nuclear research body.
The incidents prompted a call from Greenpeace for the “immediate halt of work on the EPRs in Finland and France”.
FT 27th Novc 2009 more >>
Iran
The outgoing head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said his probe of Iran’s nuclear program is at “a dead end” and that trust in Tehran’s credibility is shrinking after its belated revelation that it was secretly building a nuclear facility.
Scottish Herald 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Disarmament
Russian-American negotiations on a new agreement to reduce strategic offensive arsenals have reached the decisive phase. The conclusion of such an agreement would be a key link in the “reset” of relations between Moscow and Washington.
Telegraph 27th Nov 2009 more >>
Renewables
By the end of 2009, there will have been a 50% drop in the levelized cost–i.e. the lifetime cost per kWh before subsidies–of solar power, and a 10% reduction in the levelized cost of other sources of renewable energy sectors compared to the end of 2008. This prediction is a result of detailed quarterly research by New Energy Finance.
Climate Progress 25th Nov 2009 more >>
Energy Efficiency
The Conservative Party will offer homeowners up to £6,500 per home to fund energy efficiency refurbishments if it wins the general election next year. Grant Shapps, Shadow Housing Minister, yesterday launched the ambitious “green deal”, designed to cut carbon emissions from the UK’s existing housing stock of 25 million homes, which contribute 27 per cent of all emissions.
Times 27th Nov 2009 more >>
